ds, and rubbish. When he died they found among his
treasures a purse made out of a sow's ear and a whistle made from a
pig's tail. I saw my opportunity at once. The eccentric old man, by
acquiring two such extraordinary _objets d'art_ had indulged himself in
a sneer at the world's proverbial wisdom. I would come to the rescue of
our threatened stock of experience by gathering the facts that upheld
it. I would make it, besides, more than the selfish hobby of the private
collector who gives the world only a very little share of the pleasure
he tastes. I would make my collection a museum and a laboratory. Instead
of reading about the wise ant and the busy bee people should come and
see them in the life. It was the difference between reading about
animals in a book and seeing them in the life."

"And have you succeeded?" I asked.

"Beyond all expectations," he replied. "Come, I will take you through my
galleries," and he showed the way into the queerest garden I have ever
seen. It was as if a menagerie and a museum had been brought together in
the open air. Between enclosures and cages which harboured animals of
all species, ran long tables supporting glass cases like those used for
exhibiting coins or rare manuscripts.

"Now here," he said, stopping before a small chest with a glass top,
"here is my collection of straws."

"Straws?" I said.

"Yes. It is small but select. Here, for instance, is the last straw that
broke the camel's back. Some one suggests that it must have been a Merry
Widow hat, but that's jesting, of course. This again is the straw that
showed which way the wind blew and enabled a politician to change sides
and get a reputation as a reformer. We will see the politician further
on." I noticed then for the first time that the iron-barred cages
contained human beings as well as beasts. "Here is a handful of straws
which an entire conference of theologians spent three months in
splitting. This," pointing to a little mannikin about four inches high,
"is the man of straw whose defeat in debate gave one of our United
States Senators his brilliant reputation. And this, finally, is a
handful of straws out of the pile on which Jack Daw slept when he gave
up his bed to buy his wife a looking-glass, or, as some one has
suggested, an automobile.

"And now observe the advantages of my method. The student, having been
shown the straw that broke the camel's back, will, if he is a cautious
student, well drilled in